Publications

    Phuong Pham, Tadesse Simie Metekia, Negussie Deyessa, Abdulkadir Mah, Luciana Vosniak, and Patrick Vinck. 11/2023. Ethiopia Peace & Justice Survey 2023.Abstract

    Ethiopia has a long history of human rights violations and conflicts that have deeply affected the nation. Most recently, the period from 2020 to 2022 saw intense conflict in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions with considerable loss of life and allegations of serious violations by all parties to the conflict.

    The November 2022 Pretoria Agreement on cessation of hostilities and the subsequent Nairobi Agreement created opportunities to address historical grievances and confront gross rights violations, including the adoption of a comprehensive transitional justice process. However, violence continues in regions like Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Sidama and Oromia due to protracted intercommunal conflicts. Climate change and droughts have exacerbated food insecurity, while armed conflict persists in Oromia, where peace talks have not progressed so far, and violence has erupted in Amhara.

    Before the Tigray conflict, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed introduced transitional justice initiatives to distance Ethiopia from the abuses of previous regimes. This
    included the establishment of the 2018 Ethiopian Reconciliation Commission pursuant to a newly enacted Reconciliation Law and acknowledgment of the pre-2018 regime's violence against the Ethiopian people. Institutions like the Attorney General's Office have initiated procedures to hold past perpetrators
    accountable for corruption and other forms of abuses committed before and during the 2018 transition. Amidst the Tigray war, Ethiopia continued transitional
    justice efforts. The government shut down the Reconciliation Commission and established the National Dialogue Commission, adding a dialogue process parallel to the transitional justice process. The government also established the Transitional Justice Working Group of Experts (TJWGE), which released a
    Green Paper on policy options after the 2023 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. The TJWGE has undertaken national consultations ahead of drafting a national
    transitional justice policy for Ethiopia.

    Peace processes often neglect affected communities' perspectives, despite their crucial role in sustaining peace and preventing atrocities. The TJWGE consultations, while important, might not have fully captured the population's diverse views across all regions. To complement this process, the Harvard
    Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) in collaboration with the Partnership for Pastoralist Development Association (PAPDA) and local universities, and with support from
    the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation (GIJTR), and the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC), implemented a rigorous,
    representative, and methodologically robust consultation to gain a deeper understanding of the population's perceptions about peace and justice. This
    comprehensive mixed-method research gathered data from diverse communities across all regions of Ethiopia, including a survey of 6,689 randomly selected adult Ethiopians. Its results are presented in this report.

    11/2023. Understanding Climate, Conflict, and Environmental Impacts in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).Abstract

    In 2022, the World Risk Report ranked the Philippines as the most disaster-prone country in the world. As such, the country is highly vulnerable to climate change, under which both the frequency and intensity of disasters are projected to increase. Yet, more frequent typhoons, rising sea levels, and loss of biodiversity will have especially severe consequences for communities living in fragile contexts experiencing conflict and environmental degradation. With this in mind, HHI and MSU-IIT have established a joint research area of focus: to expand and strengthen knowledge on the intersection of climate change, conflict, and the environment. Through a collaborative research initiative that examines this intersection in the BARMM, HHI and MSU-IIT seek to better inform practice and policy across the humanitarian, development, and peace and security sectors and ultimately support community resilience in conflict affected areas.

    To launch this research initiative, HHI and MSU-IIT welcomed representatives from academia, local, national, and international NGOs, and community and local government leaders to MSU-IIT’s Iligan City campus for a two-day workshop entitled “Understanding Climate, Conflict, and Environmental Impacts in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.”

    This report documents the process of designing and implementing the workshop, summarizes its outputs, and discusses steps for continued engagement in research and practice at the intersection of climate change, environmental degradation, and conflict.

    Ganesh Dhungana, Hannah Stoddard, and Vincenzo Bollettino. 9/2023. Towards Resilient Communities: Scoping Study Report | Nepal.Abstract

    Nepal is a hotspot for natural hazards and has repeatedly experienced different geological, hydrological, meteorological, and biological hazards. The frequent changes in the type, magnitude, and frequency of these hazards exacerbated by changing phenomena of climatic extremes necessitate reviewing existing preparedness practices and suggesting more work on preparedness measures.


    The HHI Program on Resilient Communities has undertaken a scoping study to review existing practices and identify opportunities for strengthening preparedness in Nepal. The scoping study is the first phase in a project that seeks to improve community resilience to disasters through applied research relevant to effective disaster preparedness and management.


    The following report summarizes existing literature and highlights findings from a series of consultations with agencies working in disaster risk reduction and management in the country. These consultations found that despite significant progress in legislation and institutional arrangements for preparedness and risk reduction, there are still gaps in effective implementations of endorsed legislation, coordination among agencies, and resources (human, technical and financial).


    The study highlights the need to capacitate government officials working at the local and national levels by enhancing understanding and knowledge of shifting patterns of hazards and its effective management techniques.


    Similarly, the study also pinpoints the need for advanced trainings in search and rescue operations for key responders. The study concludes by highlighting the importance of coordination with academic and research institutions to project future scenarios of hazards for better management, indicating a need for national-level research and training programs and initiatives dedicated to disaster management.

    Vincenzo Bollettino, Rachel Isely, Godfred Nyarko, Chloe Rudnicki, Karima Rehmani, Hannah Stoddard, and Patrick Vinck. 7/2023. “Challenges in Humanitarian Response Implementation: A Large-Scale Review of Aid Worker Perspectives.” Disasters. Read PublicationAbstract

    Aid workers offer important perspectives for better understanding the most pervasive challenges that arise when implementing emergency response programming in humanitarian settings. This study provides a global review of these perspectives, derived from 4,679 applications of aid workers applying to the National NGO Program on Humanitarian Leadership (NNPHL), in which applicants were asked to respond to the question, “What do you consider to be the biggest challenges in the implementation of emergency response programming in today's humanitarian settings.” Through a qualitative coding process, the research team identified 14 major challenges that were pervasive across the applicant responses and cross-tabulated these with applicant demographics. Coordination (30%) and the operating environment (29.5%) were the most frequently reported challenges by the applicant pool. The study finds a significant association between challenges identified and certain demographic variables, including region of applicant origin, type of organization worked at, and number of years of experience. The results produced by the study's large sample size and methodology supplement a body of literature that is largely made up of small-scale, context specific studies in which disaggregation of data by demographics is not possible.

    Vincenzo Bollettino, Cheryl Yunn Shee Foo, Hannah Stoddard, Mark Daza, Antonio C Sison, Mendiola Teng-Calleja, and Patrick Vinck. 6/2023. “COVID-19-related mental health challenges and opportunities perceived by mental health providers in the Philippines.” Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 84. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    This paper outlines the psychosocial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic as reported by 145 licensed mental health providers in the Philippines in an online survey. Respondents perceived an increase in observed mental health disorders in their beneficiaries and an overall decrease in stigma associated with receiving mental health care services during the pandemic. Respondents further identified specific stigma-related help-seeking barriers during the pandemic. Positive impacts of telehealth and importance of increased public education of mental health were highlighted, with implications for improving the landscape of mental health care for Philippines post-pandemic.
    Ronak B. Patel, Caitriona Dowd, Kelsey Gleason, Samuel Polzin, Denise Ripamonti, and Angela Garvey. 2023. Conflict and Food Systems Synthesis Report.Abstract

    This research sought to investigate the impact of conflict on various elements of the food system to identify those with the biggest influence on food and nutrition security amongst people experiencing extreme poverty. Drawing on evidence from Somalia, Haiti and Sudan, this cross-country research systematically mapped components of local, national and international food systems; identified specific pressure points where conflict interacts with them; and proposed operational, policy and research actions tailored to supporting and strengthening food systems disrupted and transformed by conflict.

    The research finds that across all three country contexts, conflict has a negative impact on the food system in ways that are Connected - complex interconnections between different nodes in the food system; Cumulative - successive, repeated exposure to specific distortions and disruptions in the food system that intensify impacts; and Compounding - combined impacts of co-occurring effects on the food system that act together to multiply impacts.

    Ronak B. Patel, Caitriona Dowd, Kelsey Gleason, Samuel Polzin, Denise Ripamonti, and Angela Garvey. 2023. Conflict and Food Systems Haiti Report.Abstract
    This research sought to investigate the impact of conflict on various elements of the food system in Haiti to identify those with the biggest influence on food and nutrition security amongst people experiencing extreme poverty. This research systematically maps components of local and national food systems; identifies specific pressure points where conflict interacts with them; and proposes operational, policy and research actions tailored to supporting and strengthening food systems disrupted and transformed by conflict in Haiti.
    Ronak B. Patel, Caitriona Dowd, Kelsey Gleason, Samuel Polzin, Denise Ripamonti, and Angela Garvey. 2023. Conflict and Food Systems Somalia Report.Abstract
    This research sought to investigate the impact of conflict on various elements of the food system in Somalia to identify those with the biggest influence on food and nutrition security amongst people experiencing extreme poverty. This research systematically maps components of local and national food systems; identifies specific pressure points where conflict interacts with them; and propos operational, policy and research actions tailored to supporting and strengthening food systems disrupted and transformed by conflict in Somalia.
    Ronak B. Patel, Caitriona Dowd, Kelsey Gleason, Samuel Polzin, Denise Ripamonti, and Angela Garvey. 2023. Conflict and Food Systems Sudan Report.Abstract
    This research sought to investigate the impact of conflict on various elements of the food system in Sudan to identify those with the biggest influence on food and nutrition security amongst people experiencing extreme poverty. This research systematically maps components of local and national food systems; identifies specific pressure points where conflict interacts with them; and proposes operational, policy and research actions tailored to supporting and strengthening food systems disrupted and transformed by conflict in Sudan.
    Phuong Pham, Katrina Keegan, Lisa Grazina Johnston, Jose Rodas, Maria Alejandra Restrepo, Carol Wei, and Patrick Vinck. 10/2022. “Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Colombia using respondent-driven sampling (RDS.” BMJ Open. Read PublicationAbstract

    Objectives: To determine factors associated with adherence to COVID-19 mitigation measures, related symptoms and testing, as well as pandemic-related income loss among Venezuelan refugee and migrant adults in urban and border areas of Colombia.

    Design: Phone-based respondent-driven sampling

    Setting: Bogotá and Norte de Santander, Colombia.

    Participants: 605 adult Venezuelan refugees and migrants residing in Bogotá (n=305) and Norte de Santander (n=300), who arrived in Colombia after 2014 and completed the survey in August and September 2020.

     

    Primary and secondary outcome measures: Full COVID-19 compliance (vs incomplete or no compliance), any COVID-19-related symptoms (vs none) and income loss due to isolation measures in Colombia (vs no income change or increase in income).

    Results: Older age was associated with lower odds of compliance with physical distancing measures (0.94, 0.90–0.99; p=0.01) for those in Bogotá. Nearly 15% of refugees and migrants in both locations (81 of 605) experienced at least one symptom consistent with COVID-19. Having a health condition was associated with higher odds of experiencing COVID-19-related symptoms in Bogotá (4.00, 1.22–13.06; p=0.02) and Norte de Santander (6.99, 1.95–24.99; p=0.003). Around 8% in both locations (48 of 605) were tested for COVID-19. Around 90% in both locations (537 of 605) had trouble earning an income after the introduction of isolation measures, and the median reported monthly income decreased by half in Bogotá and by 30% in Norte de Santander. A higher level of education (3.46, 1.02–11.75; p=0.05) was associated with higher odds of income loss among participants in Norte de Santander.

    Conclusions: Results indicate high compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures, low testing rates and high pandemic-related income loss among Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Colombia. This study provides insights into a hard-to-reach refugee and migrant population in Colombia; additional study on the effects of the pandemic on hidden populations is warranted.

     

    Jaya Prakash, Timothy B. Erickson, and Hanni Stoklosa. 9/20/2022. “Human trafficking and the growing malady of disinformation.” Frontiers in Public Health. Read PublicationAbstract
    Disinformation has endangered the most vulnerable communities within our world. The anti-trafficking movement in particular has been adversely impacted by disinformation tactics advanced through the QAnon campaign. QAnon's extremist messaging exacerbates gendered, racist, and xenophobic manifestations of trafficking victimization as well as problematic responses to trafficking that underpin historic structural inequities built into the United States' response to trafficking. We describe an overview of mechanisms used by the QAnon campaign to spread disinformation and illustrate how these mechanisms adversely affect the anti-trafficking movement. Given the critical role of healthcare providers in both the identification and connection to care for trafficked persons, as well as their susceptibility to disinformation, we provide several recommendations for the health sector to leverage their educational and advocacy power to combat trafficking disinformation while addressing the root causes of human trafficking.

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